John 17:19-22

And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,”

. . . beckons us to gather together in prayer under the mantle of Our Lady of Kazan – The Mother of God of Kazan. It is doubtful we could ever discover a more prominent figure for Christian unity (or one more loved apart from God Himself for that matter) , since we are all Her children. Yet as we delve into the background of miraculous icons and further attempt to gauge the approximate history of their origin and subsequent movement , we ultimately encounter one or two divergent opinions from time to time ; some of which indicate their divergence could be possibly grounded in the lack of understanding which still exists in some areas between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. What a unique problem – even a little bit strange, considering that despite several theological issues which persist in preventing them/us from attaining full communion with each other , we are still united by the fact that both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches are the only ones to validly administer all of the sacraments exclusively.

Our duty – the duty of the faithful , is not to exacerbate the wound between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Rather, it is to accomplish spiritually today what our hierarchies are yet incapable of achieving to date – that is, to come together in full communion with each other - by means of prayer. When we do this, we are not only praying in a most positive way for unity , we begin to attain it . . - ; a fact which , doubtless , a significant amount of Christians are already aware of.

Catholics may ask, “Why should I pray with/invoke The Mother of God of Kazan?” Rest assured that Pope John Paul II prayed frequently with Our Lady of Kazan , as professed in his own words :

How often since that day have I called on the Mother of God of Kazan, asking her to protect and guide the Russian people who venerate her, and to hasten the moment when all the disciples of her Son, recognizing one another as brothers and sisters, will be able to fully restore the compromised unity.”

John 15:16
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.”

God -- Who begot the Son Who is God and Who reveals the Father, Who created us who are called to reveal Him, and Who miraculously formed the Holy Shroud.”

Over time, icons came to be written according to very definite rules of design and system of symbols (see table below); the arrangement of elements, colors used, the manner of showing light, etc. are all governed by theological principles and ecclesiastical custom. Various schools and ages of icon writing arose, each with distinctive styles: the 6th c. Justinian period; the 10th c. - 12th c. rise of Russian icon writing; and the "Golden Age of Icons" in the 14th c. Throughout, the representations of persons were and are meant to capture spiritual realities, not earthly ones. They are not meant to be realistic portraits of their flesh, but portraits of their enfleshed spirits, as it were, as seen through the eyes of faith. “

http://www.fisheaters.com/images.html

Icons, Matter Transfigured
. . . ‘We are perhaps inclined to regard humans as lower than the angels, because of their very corporeality. In reality, it is precisely this materiality of man which, when he lives according to his nature, makes him higher than the angels.

St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: "In previous ages the transcendent powers knew only the simple, uniform working of God's wisdom which effected wonders. On the other hand the manifest quality of wisdom which arose from the union of opposites is clearly manifested through the Church: the Word became flesh."[1] An important ministry of the Church therefore is to participate in the Father's plan "for the fullness of time, to unite all things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph 1:10). The icon is perhaps the most immediate and graphic expression of this union, firstly because it depicts God become flesh (Christ) and flesh become god (saints), and secondly, because the icon is itself a material bearer of uncreated grace.

In the ancient Russian tradition the iconographer paints with the icon lying horizontally-prostrate as it were whilst the iconographer remains upright. The icon is glad that it is this way, to be the servant of a wise master. When the icon is completed this order is reversed: the icon is placed vertical, and the iconographer and the faithful prostrate before it. But again the icon rejoices, for by virtue of its likeness to the prototype, mere matter has been changed into a bearer of uncreated grace. It has been fashioned by a new Noah into an ark which saves the creation. By thus participating in uncreated grace and man's salvation, matter has begun to pass from this wicked world into the age to come. In the fallen world the icon's raw materials- gold, trees, precious stones, earth-are foolishly worshipped for created qualities they possess by nature. Within the Church, these materials, as part of icons, are wisely honoured for uncreated qualities that they possess, or rather convey, not by nature but by grace. As Saint John of Damascus says, "do not cease to venerate the matter through which our salvation was effected" ().”

. . . Icons unveiling the logoi
Icons are like names which the sons of the second Adam give to creation's creatures. Each name reveals the true identity of the thing named. Names are the unveiling of the unique logos of each individual thing, from stone and tree through to human beings. What is the saint, who, after Christ and the Mother of God, is the prime subject of icons? A saint is a person who has become what he already is in the mind of God, who has become his God-given name; he is his logos realised, a small logos united to the great Logos.

The saint is flesh, phenomenon, radiated from within by the union of the Creator Logos with his own created logos or hypostasis. It is because of this that shadows are absent in icons; the uncreated light which radiates from within the saint conquers shadows, which are caused by the dominance of the exterior created light. Where black is used, as in the cave of Christ's nativity and the tomb of Lazarus, it explicitly signifies the state of the fallen world. And where a dark colour is used positively, to describe something in heavenly reality, it paradoxically signifies profound presence rather than absence. Take for example the centre of the nimbus, often painted deep blue-black, which surrounds the transfigured Christ; this signifies the darkness of incomprehensible divine presence, unknown and unknowable by man, the divine essence from which shines forth the uncreated and knowable divine energies.

Icons show trees bending, prostrating as it were, before holy people. Rocks part like waves to let the Saviour enter Hades. Rivers flee before the baptized Creator. Icons depict a cosmos returned to its paradisiacal state.”

In Christ, those who were baptised become light in light, and they know the one who begot them " Then the iconographer paints those whom he has seen with his own spiritual eyes. Then he paints not images of images, but an image taken from the living prototype. Certainly he will receive the physical likeness of the saint from existing icons, but these icons he experiences sacramentally, not as a replacement for the real thing, but as a sacramental bearer of the very person depicted. He meets the saint personally in Christ through the Holy Spirit, just as Peter, James and John met Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor. The outer likeness he receives from the Spirit through icons, and the "inner" likeness, the personal relationship with the saint, he receives from the same Holy Spirit through purity of heart. In that way the physical likeness which the iconographer receives through icons is not something exterior to his life in the Spirit, because the Spirit who has guarded this likeness through icons is the same Spirit who fills his heart with light.

It might be said that such a state of purity of heart as here described is rare, and that therefore most iconographers ought to content themselves with copying the works of the masters. Of course, as has been said above, the of the saint is handed on through copying prototypes. But the question here is whether all the other details need to be copied. It is infinitely better for someone still subject to the passions to make a faithful copy of an inspired icon than to paint the fantasies of his impure heart. And of course what makes an icon holy is not primarily the details of its style but the fact that it depicts a holy person. As St. Simeon of Thessalonica writes: "Portray in colours according to Tradition; this painting is as true as what is written in books, and the grace of God rests on "[4]

small, inexpensive picture of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child (post-card quality). It was an old Eastern style of painting, similar to "Our Lady of Perpetual Help." The picture was in a broken plastic frame. It was no more than three inches tall and two inches wide. Its value was probably less than one dollar. Considering the frame was cracked on the lower left side and the picture was torn on the upper right side, it was most likely worthless.
"This is the Miracle of Damascus", Father said. "This picture pours out oil."

http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/DamascusTestimony.htm

Earthly perspective is lost and icons have a flatness to them that disappears in Western Art after the painter Giotto discovered the rules of painting using perspective. Time, too, is distorted to show sequential events simultaneously. Both of these phenomena lend themselves to aiding the viewer in realizing that he is not looking at temporal realities, but spiritual realities.”

Holy images
1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new "economy" of images:
Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I have seen of God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face unveiled.[27]

1160 Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other:
We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the Church which have been entrusted to us. One of these traditions consists in the production of representational artwork, which accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary, and to our benefit as well, for realities that illustrate each other undoubtedly reflect each other's meaning.[28]

1161 All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ: as are sacred images of the holy Mother of God and of the saints as well. They truly signify Christ, who is glorified in them. They make manifest the "cloud of witnesses"[29] who continue to participate in the salvation of the world and to whom we are united, above all in sacramental celebrations. Through their icons, it is man "in the image of God," finally transfigured "into his likeness,"[30] who is revealed to our faith. So too are the angels, who also are recapitulated in Christ:
Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets.[31]

1162 "The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God."[32] Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory and is then expressed in the new life of the faithful.”

To seal this deal via the Catechism : When is the last time you ever heard a Catholic teaching declare that an ordained minister is a statue ( No – it doesn’t count if Father doesn’t move around much when he is celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. . . ) ?

Well, in a depiction of the indelible mark which the Holy Spirit breathes on an ordained minister’s soul , the Catechism says “ the ordained minister is an icon of Christ the priest.” Here it is again with a little context:

1141 The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized who, "by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that . . . they may offer spiritual sacrifices."[9] This "common priesthood" is that of Christ the sole priest, in which all his members participate:[10]
Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the Christian people, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people," have a right and an obligation by reason of their Baptism.[11]

1142 But "the members do not all have the same function."[12] Certain members are called by God, in and through the Church, to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the head, for the service of all the members of the Church.[13] The ordained minister is, as it were, an "icon" of Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as, in communion with him, the ministry of priests and deacon.”

I , Our Lady of Kazan is Our Lady Protectress


The Icon of Our Lady of Kazan is widely known as the “Liberatrixand Protectress” of Holy Russia. It has been used as the standard of the Russian army accompanying them in their struggles against invaders, the Tartars, the Poles, the Swedes, and the French. Our Lady of Kazan has been venerated in Russia for centuries and even greeted by Russian troops as the Liberatrix of Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed two liturgical feast days in her honor, July 8 and October 22. In many Russian prayers the Mother of God is called the “invincible general.” The Icon of Our Lady of Kazan is one of the most venerated Icons in Russia and is inseparable from its long Christian history. The image is linked to the rich sources of Russia’s religious life. Events involving the Kazan Icon during the 20th century are only now becoming widely known. . .

II Our Lady of Kazan—Patroness of Russian Families

Our Lady of Kazan is the patroness of households in Russian families. Copies of the Icon are frequently given to young ladies before their weddings. She is so much a part of Russian culture that even unbelievers often have had an Icon of Kazan in their home. The Icon has a special spiritual significance and role in the history of Russia. Our Lady of Kazan shows the way for the future of Russia .

The Fatima Family Apostolate has been promoting the Icon of Soufanieh for two reasons: 1) as a reminder to pray for Christian Unity for the total Church; 2) for families to have it in their homes to promote love and unity in the family.

According to Marguerite Peeters, writing from Brussels for the magazine, Inside the Vatican: “Throughout Russia, churches, monasteries and cathedrals are dedicated to the Kazanskaya,” as it is called. “The Moscow Patriarchate has declared 16 copies of the Icon to be miraculous or venerable. Popular devotion proclaims more than 30 copies to be miraculous. The copies from different periods are often covered with gold, silver and precious stones, testifying to the deep veneration Russians have for this Icon.”

Kazan is a city on the Volga River located some 500 miles east of Moscow. The Tartars invaded Russia in the middle of the 13th centuryand oppressed Russians for 300 years. The Tartars considered the city of Kazan the capital of their principality. Then Czar Ivan IV the Terrible in 1552 organized a crusade against the Tartars who were oppressing the Orthodox. The Russians took over the city of Kazan. The Tartars began to be instructed in the Orthodox faith. The city could freely exercise its faith again. In gratitude Ivan the Terrible had a large basilica built in honor of the Mother of God in Kazan. It was dedicated to the mystery of the Annunciation. He had a cathedral built in Moscow in honor of the Protection of the Mother of God—now known as the famous St. Basil’s Basilica on Red Square.

The Moscow synod of bishops in 1555 elected the first bishop of Kazan and had a Cathedral built there. The majority of Kazan’s population, however, was still Moslem. When the second bishop of Kazan died the Moslems revolted against the Christian faith. It was during this struggle that half of the city was destroyed by fire in 1579. Moslems claimed it was a punishment from God against Christians. The future of Christianity in the city was in peril.

III   History of the Kazan Icon

A soldier whose home had been destroyed in the Kazan fire of 1579 was planning to build a new house when his eight-year-old daughter, Matrona, saw a vision in which the Blessed Mother on two occasions told her to tell everyone that the Icon of Our Lady would be found in the ground under the ruins of the burned house. The child was ignored both times. In the third apparition Matrona saw the Icon itself “andfrom within a great light glowed.” This time Matrona heard a voice which told her, “If you do not announce my words to all then I will appear in another place and a great calamity shall befall you.

”After the rejection of the message by the governor of the city ofKazan and by the Archbishop Jeremiah, the mother, to satisfy the child, and along with some neighbors, went to the place and started searching.It was not until Matrona started digging herself that, in a very short time, she uncovered the Holy Icon wrapped in old cloth and perfectly preserved. “Though it was an old Icon, its paint glistened like new. It seemed to be illuminated from within.”

The Icon was then taken in solemn procession from the place of exca-vation to the Church of St. Nicholas, the nearest church. On the way two men, Joseph and Nikita, who had been blind for years, had their sight restored so that “the Holy Icon appeared to have wonder-working powers. ”It is thought that the Icon was hidden during the Tartar domination, when the Orthodox were obliged to hide their faith, but the origin of the Icon still remains mysterious.

The event of the finding of the Icon took place on July 8, 1579. A liturgical feast day was thus established on that date in commemoration of the apparition of the Icon.

The pastor of the church was the priest Hermogen who was later to become the Patriarch of Moscow and, still later, to exhort the people of Russia during the “Time of Troubles” to drive out the invaders so that Russia might be saved. Those exhortations of Hermogen inspired the raising of an army in 1611 whose leadership, organization, and training were entrusted to the prince, Pojarski.

The time of freedom was not yet at hand, for the Russian military commanders quarreled among themselves. The violence of the Cossacks and other militiamen knew no bounds. In the winter of 1611, the Icon was being returned to Kazan. While it was en route to Kazan, it stopped at Yaroslavl where militiamen from Nizhni Novgoro, recruited by Minim and led by Pojarski were located. Hearing about the Icon and the many miracles which were wrought in connection with it, the militia-men took the Icon with them, constantly paying it homage with prayers for help. Many miracles were manifested.

Army troops marching from Kazan toward Moscow brought along the sacred Icon. The forces of Prince Pojarski encountered impossible obstacles near Moscow. The city must be taken. It was heavily reinforced and guarded by fresh troops arriving near Moscow. The disorderly Cossacks, instead of aiding the arriving troops, repelled them. There were few supplies or ammunition for the loyal forces. Under these circumstances, the morale of the troops ebbed low. Furthermore, autumn came bringing with it unfavorable weather. Deciding, however, to make a last effort to capture the city, depending no longer on their own strength, but only on the protection of the Mother of God, on October 22, 1612, the troops gathered to pray in front of the Icon, and then were successful in seizing the walls of the Kremlin, liberating Moscow. The Lord heard the prayers for the Church and the Fatherland.

Subsequently Our Lady of Kazan was hailed by Russian troops as the liberator of Russia. It is why the Orthodox church later proclaimed October 22 a liturgical feast day.
Among the many devotional accounts of this victory among the Russians is that within the city was a saintly hierarch, Arseny, who came to Russia from Greece. He was taken prisoner and lived under severeconditions of hunger and grief. Being a hierarch and a saintly man he was close to God and was chosen to receive heavenly favors. During the darkness of the night his cell was filled with light and he saw before him St. Sergius of Radonezh.

“Arseny,” said the saint, “Our prayers have been heard. Through the intercession of the Mother of God, the divine judgment on our fatherland has been changed to mercy. By morning Moscow will be in the hands of the liberators and Russia saved.”

The word spread and the Orthodox militia were strengthened with new courage. The enemy, in spite of their number, could no longer hold their positions and the Kremlin was taken by the Russians. The Icon of Our Lady of Kazan was placed by Prince Pojarski in the Church of the Presentation of the Holy Virgin in Moscow until the time when the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan was built in Moscow (1630), where the Icon was then enshrined.